Tag: featured

Luciel Rairigh, my great, great, great aunt, appears to have loved writing poetry. Having only one small box of her mementos and writings, I can only piece together the little bits of her that I have: She was clever. She was beautiful. She was organized, and she loved to write.

Each poem had both a rough draft and final copy included in the small box. It was fascinating to see her process- picking and choosing her words to suit her meaning. It’s a reminder to creators that first drafts often aren’t good enough- so keep refining!

One Small Garden: Rough Draft

One Small Garden Rough Draft Page One

One Small Garden Rough Draft Page 2

One Small Garden Rough Draft Page 3

It’s unfortunate that I don’t have the dates for all of these poems, but I can estimate the early 1900s based on her lifespan. It’s clear that she took her work very seriously based on the amount of effort she made to proofread and perfect her writing. It is also clear through her works that she had a love and devotion to God.

One Small Garden: Final Draft Transcript

Each heart is one small garden
With many plants growing there,
God is the master gardener;
But we must assist in it’s care.
The flowers of kindness and love,
Of purity, forgiveness, and prayer,
Are the ones the Master has planted
And helps us watch over with care.

When weeds grow in this garden
He helps us to pull them out:
Not only those grown large and tall,
But even each tiny sprout.
The unkind look, the impatient word,
Yes, these are the tiny seeds —
Greed, deciet, and selfishness:
They are the ugly weeds.

Then how about these plants, we ask
Surely they are not wanted here?
There’s sorrow, disappointment, and heartache,
And here’s one burden and tear.
But He sighed as He answered sadly,
Ah, yes, we must leave a few there,
They keep the soil soft and fertile
For all of these flowers so fair.

One Small Garden: Final Draft Original

One Small Garden Final Draft Page One

One Small Garden Final Draft Page Two

The final draft is beautifully written. The fact that I can clearly read and transcribe it after over 100 years was especially enjoyable.

I have a few more poems to share at a later date, so if you enjoyed this one, please check back in from time to time to read more about and from Luciel.

Life can sneak up on you when you least expect it. I visited my family in Indiana this month, and Dad asked if I wanted to help go through my grandparents old boxes to help him sort things out. We pulled dusty box after dusty box into the living room, plopped into recliners, and started sifting through way more history than I ever dreamed I’d see.

My grandpa kept everything. Everything. Journal after journal, diary after diary dating back to before 1900. And it made sense. I felt like I fit in. My great Uncle Mervin kept little homemade drawing booklets of birds and trees; my grandfather painted and crafted; and my great, great, great Aunt Luciel wrote poetry.

What amazed me more than anything, was not only did Luciel write it, but it was here. My grandfather had several of her poems. This girl was born in 1907, and I was holding handwritten poetry from her. I was almost afraid to touch it. The writing was, for the most part, legible. Her penmanship was beautiful, and almost every single poem had both a rough draft and a final draft included in a small leather box.

Included with these was a letter to New York asking them to publish her poetry.

I don’t know entirely know what it would have been like to be a woman writer asking to be published in the early 1900s, but I like to think that she was very bold and brave. After some searching, I don’t see any of her work online, or much anything about her other than family tree research. Just looking at the picture of her as a young girl though, I see the same secret humor and wit that I always saw in my grandpa.

It touched my life in a way that I can’t completely write out to “meet” her in this way. I decided that in the coming weeks I am going to write about her poems and share them with the internet. If she wasn’t published before, now, in some roundabout way, she will be. People can enjoy her work over 100 years later and see it from both similar and different perspectives.

Post Haste Logo from Meta Potion pending- subject to change. Do not copy, redistribute, or alter.

It’s almost time for GEN CON 2018! It’s so exciting! I’ve never personally gone to the convention, and, well, I won’t be going this year either. However- this will be the closest I’ve ever been, as my work will be there in the form of the prototype of POST HASTE!

I’ve been working on the artwork for Post Haste for a while now, and am thrilled to finally be able to show a little bit off. As always, I’m thankful to the FFTCG Community for being so open and accepting, and sharing my work.

What is Post Haste?

Official and placeholder art from Meta Potion used. Do not copy, redistribute, or alter.

While I will not be there, we will have our Meta Potion official Matthew Okimoto around to show off the cards and give a brief demo if there is interest. I’d love to get some good pictures back from the event!

Where Can I Keep Up With Post Haste?

We are looking to run a Kickstarter within the next couple of months to push this game into reality!Interested in the game, or want to check it out at Gen Con? Feel free to comment here or reach out to Meta Potion via one of the methods above. We’d love to hear from you!

I’ve been designing a ton of shirts for FFTCG Community Merchandise weekly (at the very least) and have been having a blast- so I decided it’s time to try and grow.

I dish out a lot of merch. The support has been incredible, but obviously no one can buy all of it. This is a way to support me and my work without breaking the bank.

There is only one tier- top tier.
I am only offering a $1 option reward– and that is to be part of the community and discussion around FFTCG designs, shirts, and other ideas we can bring to life (Like stickers!) I have had a lot of crazy and wonderful ideas thrown at me, and having Patrons will help me narrow those down.

Also, if I’m able to do discounts and bundles, this will be the #1 place to get them.

Slam the $1 and let’s get busy making some really punny nonsense please.

PS: I have had a lot of interest in sticker packs of the element shirt designs. While Teespring does allow me to make stickers, they are individual and the cost would add up for you to buy all of them. So I have added an incentive- If I reach a $50 patronage, I will get sticker sheets made myself for all of my patrons, and you will get them for free.

My mono lightning t-shirts came in! Take a look at both unisex and women’s styles, and how sizing varies between them.

It’s been a fun week- I always enjoy seeing what the final product looks like in person, as I’m nervous to believe the image online is how it will actually come out. I am more than pleasantly surprised! The image is clear and showed crisply on both black and vivid purple.

I was super happy to discover that the sizing on the $15 Hanes tee is very much true to size, if not slightly generous. I’ve yet to test the premium unisex tees, so I’d love some feedback from those who have bought them!

Women’s shirt sizing is a different story- ALWAYS size up! I wear a medium in the unisex shirt size, but the most comfortable fit in women’s sizing is always going to be the XL.